Lake Issues.

Tollway Speeders

Most Say They're Just Going With The Flow

Auto Towers Says Business Is Good - Too Good - On I-94

May 09, 1993|By Stories and photos by Steve Shay.

"This one happened on the Lake County toll road. It rolled over when his right wheel came off. The studs all broke. That could happen at any speed, but if you're going 80 miles an hour, you're in trouble. You're in trouble," said Ernie Vole Sr., wreck maven and owner of Ernie's Towing Service in Vernon Hills. Vole was pointing to an old, rusty, crunched Chevrolet, parked on one of 180 numbered spaces at his eight-acre lot full of disabled cars, many victimized on the Lake County tollway and the Edens spur.

The lot looks like a car graveyard but is really more of an emergency waiting room for the wrecks, which are labeled on their windows with date and location of accident, awaiting diagnosis from insurance companies, then repair or auction as scrap. Ernie's Towing has an exclusive contract with the Illinois Tollway Authority to pick up wrecked cars on the toll road from Willow Road north to Grand Avenue. It is also the only Lake County service authorized to clear major tractor-trailer wrecks on the tollway. The combination of his location, four miles from both the Illinois Highway 22 and 60 tollway ramps, his heavy-duty equipment and experience got him that contract.

Chief Ted Tarr of the Vernon Fire Protection District, just up Milwaukee Avenue from Ernie's, which protects the tollway between Highways 60 and 22, has used Ernie's for 20 years. "We've always had the best cooperation from them," he said.

One wreck in Vole's lot illustrates the importance of driver airbags. Caught in a high-speed crash on the tollway, the vehicle's front end was demolished, but the windshield and steering wheel were intact, clues that the driver made it out safely. The airbag was draped lazily over the steering wheel, partly deflated, having done its job.

Vole poked his head into the car, and like Lt. Columbo, was searching for just one more clue. "I'm looking for lipstick marks," he said. "You can usually tell that the driver was a lady by the perfect imprint of lips she left in the middle of the airbag."